The Thunder King was a tyrannical Mogu warlord who united the Mogu factions at some point in the distant past[2] and became the first emperor of the mogu in Pandaria.[3] The Thunder King rose to power “the mogu way”; namely, by eliminating his rivals one by one.[4]

According to legend, he was able to accomplish this with the help of a mysterious artifact that he found in the depths of a mountain. After his rise to power, he built the Mogu'shan Vaults to contain and protect this secret[4] and converted the surrounding structure into a sort of shrine dedicated to the mogu empire.